By Linda Badger

Clement Street has long been a cherished Richmond District destination. Neighbors and visitors browse Green Apple Books, grab dim sum or a hot bowl of Pho on a foggy day, and wheel their carts and kids to the Farmers Market on Sunday mornings.

While many businesses have struggled post-pandemic, the forward-thinkers at High Treason Wine Bar (443 Clement St.) have found an innovative way to maximize the use of their space by hosting a popular new pop-up, HI NRG coffee.

Luis Gonzalez and Nathan Kruse, founders of HI NRG, began selling their specialty coffee drinks at High Treason in June of this year. Michael Ireland, a co-owner of High Treason, attributes the coffee pop-up idea “100% to the boys.” Gonzalez and Kruse, who live a block away from the wine bar, were regulars at High Treason, stopping by in the evenings for a glass of wine. A few months ago, they arrived with two thermoses of their coffee and a proposal to sell it at High Treason during the day when the wine bar was closed. Ireland, a self-proclaimed coffee snob, said the coffee was “amazing,” and remembers giving Luis and Nathan an enthusiastic “Let’s do it!”

Open for business from Thursday through Sunday, Luis and Kruse wheel their espresso machine a short block from their home to High Treason. They sell their espresso drinks, filtered coffees and a special cinnamon cappuccino (Café de Olla), from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m., getting in and out before the wine bar opens at 4 p.m.

At first, Gonzalez and Kruse served coffee out of the front window of the wine bar.

“It was nice to see the lines forming outside,” said Ireland. Then someone complained about their sidewalk window operation. As a result, High Treason decided to fully support the pop-up. HI NRG has moved its coffee brewing operation inside, where customers have a stylish, comfortable place to sit and sip their coffee while listening to High Treason’s impressive LP collection. HI NRG is “going gangbusters,” said Ireland, who “loves being an incubator” for a new local business.

Ireland understands what it takes to start a business. In 2012, he and his partner, John Vuong, working as sommeliers at high-end restaurants (The French Laundry, Meadowood, Quince, Gary Danko and Ame), were looking to open a business of their own. Both men had just become fathers and realized they could not raise their children while working the 60- to 80-hour workweeks demanded by three-star Michelin restaurants. They wanted to leave that world behind and open a wine bar that “broke all the rules,” hence the name, High Treason.

The partners came up with a list of things they hated most about traditional wine bars and looked for a space on Clement Street, which Ireland loved and considered “the place to be.”

“We burned all our suits,” Ireland said, and created a wine bar where customers can come, dressed as they are in hoodies and jeans and enjoy a great wine along with a casual bite, without breaking the bank. Unlike traditional wine bars, High Treason always pours its customers a taster before they are obligated to pay for the glass.

The concept was a success, and the partners have shared their success with others. Besides the HI NRG pop-up, High Treason has partnered with another pop-up, Unco Frank’s, to prepare food for its wine bar customers.

“Unco Frank,” is Frank Hau, a Hawaiian chef, who had previously worked at Gary Danko. Ireland noted that the crispy, salty, spicy Hawaiian food pairs well with wine, as well as with the casual atmosphere they envisioned for High Treason. The pop-up idea brings in some extra cash for High Treason and there is also some cross-pollination going on, bringing new customers to the space.

Ultimately, Gonzalez and Kruse hope to establish their own coffee shop. Ireland is confident that they will be a big success when they do. They are “super coffee geeks,” he said.

Gonzalez and Kruse have worked in Bay Area coffee shops for years, spending two years at The Coffee Movement, another Richmond District specialty coffee destination located at 1737 Balboa St. After learning as much as they could about the craft of coffee making, Luis and Nathan took the plunge to start their own business.

HI NRG specializes in brewing naturally processed Ethiopian coffees selected because of their “extremely distinct blueberry, strawberry or even kumquat-like flavors.” According to Luis, when coffee beans are naturally processed the coffee “cherry” is left on the bean to ferment, which allows the coffee to take in some of the naturally sweet characteristics of the fruit. He noted that how the coffee is brewed also makes a difference, and at HI NRG, they brew their coffee very gently and slowly to extract all the flavors. The result is a surprisingly fruity cup of coffee with an intense blueberry or strawberry pop and a sweet, dessert-like quality. The coffee is so distinctive that Gonzalez and Kruse already have a dedicated customer base after only a few months of operating the pop-up.

In addition to working at Bay Area specialty coffee houses, the two partners have traveled to Japan to study the growing coffee culture there. Their “dream business” would reflect the qualities they most admire in the Japanese coffee shops they have visited, including, said Luis, “absolute dedication to our craft, intentionality behind every drink and a space where one can forget about the troubles of the outside world and enjoy a beverage.

“The Richmond District is our home, and we hope to one day get a brick and mortar on Clement Street,” Gonzalez added.

In the meantime, Gonzalez and Kruse said they are grateful to High Treason and the neighborhood for giving them a chance.

“There have been a few hurdles Nathan and I have had to overcome over the last year of HI NRG being a business, but otherwise, the city has given us everything. From our first-ever pop-up we’ve had people that have been dedicated to us. We have regulars that we’ve been seeing at almost every event who come into High Treason on a weekly basis. The City is so small, and the coffee community is so tight, that every single person who walks in is either a friend or a friend of a friend, or a new friend waiting to be made. The neighborhood has received us with open arms, and we want to give back that love tenfold.”

Learn more about High Treason at hightreasonsf.com. Get more information about HI NRG @hinrg_sf on Instagram.